The Ballpark podcast Extra Innings: African Americans in a White house: an event with Professor Leah Wright Rigueur

On the 5th of March 2020, Professor Leah Wright Rigueur joined the LSE US Centre for the event “African Americans in a ‘White’ House: Presidential Politics, Race, and The Pursuit of Power.” At the event, using one of the most outrageous scandals in modern American political history as a case study – the Housing and Urban Development Scandal (HUD) of the 1980s and 1990s which saw political officials steal billions in federal funding set aside for low-income housing residents – Professor Leah Wright Rigueur told the complex story of the transformation of Black politics and the astonishing racial politics of presidential administrations that have paved the way for patterns of political misconduct that have continued into the present. This seminar was chaired by Professor Imaobong Umoren, Assistant Professor at the Department of International History at LSE. The event was part of the ‘Race and Gender in US Politics in Historical and Contemporary Perspective’ seminar series organized by the LSE United States Centre. Professor Leah Wright Rigueur is an Associate Professor of Public Policy at the Harvard Kennedy School of Government and the Harry S. Truman Associate Professor of American History at Brandeis University. She is the author of The Loneliness of the Black Republican: Pragmatic Politics and the Pursuit of Power and is currently working on the book manuscript Mourning in America: Black Men in a White House

The Ballpark Podcast: Extra Innings: Black Republicans, power and the Reagan administration, interview with Professor Leah Wright Rigueur

In this Extra Inning, Ballpark co-host Michaela Herrmann is joined by Professor Leah Wright Rigueur, who discusses the Housing and Urban Development (HUD) scandal of the 1980s, the experiences of Black Republicans in the last 50 years, the racial politics of the Reagan administration, and how #BlackLivesMatter protests can be linked back to long-standing trends like inequality and policing practices

The Social, the Socio, and the HPA: How peer rejection, peer acceptance, and socioeconomic status relate to children’s HPA-axis activity

Understanding how socioeconomic status (SES) “gets under the skin” to impact health has puzzled researchers for decades. SES is a complex, multifaceted construct that can be examined using a variety of methodologies. Additionally, SES can impact diverse and interrelated spheres of development. This dissertation attempts to parse how SES and the peer group individually and additively impact children’s cortisol levels. Study 1 examines children’s cortisol at the beginning and end of their first year of kindergarten and finds that rejected children have flatter morning cortisol slopes, while lower SES children have higher cortisol at the end of the school year compared to their higher SES peers. Study 2 examines children’s diurnal cortisol and cortisol response to positive and negative peer experiences and finds that girls from lower income families have a flatter diurnal cortisol slope. It also found that children not accepted by their peers had little cortisol response to positive or negative peer experiences, while accepted children had elevated cortisol following positive peer experiences. Study 3 examines these same variables in relation to hair cortisol and found that children from a lower income background have higher hair cortisol, while low levels of parental education moderated the association between rejection and acceptance such that children from families with lower levels of parental education had low cortisol when they were rejected or not accepted and high cortisol when they were accepted or not rejected. Together, these sets of results highlight the importance of using multiple measures of SES to better understand its association with peer difficulties and cortisol. Understanding how social factors and SES impact the HPA-axis could inform intervention programs designed to help disadvantaged children

Naturalistic Stress Exposure and the Diurnal Cortisol Profile in Children and Adolescents: A Meta-Analysis

Stress during childhood has been found to impact health across the lifespan. Research has demonstrated that the development of the diurnal cortisol profile can be altered by early exposure to stress. However, the literature is heterogeneous, with evidence of stress exposure being associated with heightened cortisol, lowered cortisol, blunted cortisol, and with no association. This thesis parses this heterogeneity by conducting a systematic review and meta-analysis of 33 studies that assessed the association between stress exposure during childhood using standardized measures of stress and cortisol. Participant characteristics, study methodology, and conceptual factors were examined as potential moderators of this association. We found that stress and cortisol had a small but significant association (Z’ = 0.029). The type of stress measure employed impacted the strength of the association: life-events measures were more strongly associated with cortisol secretion when intensity of the stress exposure was taken into account. Distal vs. proximal measures of stress exposure were differentially associated with cortisol and stress. Child report stress had a stronger association with cortisol than parent report stress. Possible cortisol blunting was found in populations “at risk” for stress exposure, mental health problems, and medical conditions. Possible cortisol blunting was found in populations as they age. Together, this thesis contributes to the extant literature on the association between naturalistic stress exposure and diurnal cortisol secretion in children

Voices from the ‘Holler’: Implementation and Analysis of an Advanced Advocacy Practice Course in Rural Appalachia

The availability of quality macro education is a critical determinant to policy engagement among social workers, especially for those in geographically isolated areas. This mixed methods, pilot study compares self-assessed CSWE policy competencies of graduating MSW students who completed an Advanced Advocacy Practice course with a comparison group. Student course reflections were also analyzed for common themes. Results indicate that students who completed the course rated themselves higher across policy competencies than graduating MSW students who had not completed the course. They were also more likely to see policy advocacy as a “primary skill” for social workers. Qualitative analysis suggests that participants gained greater confidence in their macro practice skills. This pilot study provides an important contribution to the limited existent research on best practices for social work policy education, especially for those in rural areas

Using Light-Level Geolocation to Investigate the Carry-Over Effects of Long-Distance Migration on the Reproductive Success of Dunlin (Calidris Alpina Hudsonia)

Avian migration strategies can have lasting effects on individual fitness in subsequent seasons. These carry-over effects are difficult to study in migratory species because of the geographical separation between breeding and non-breeding sites. I used light-level geolocation to examine, for the first time, how individual spring migration strategy affects reproductive success in a subarctic-nesting shorebird. I showed that female Dunlin (Calidris alpina) breeding in Churchill, MB laid eggs of increased volume after migrating longer distances at decreased speeds. Nest survival increased for female Dunlin that migrated longer distances along less direct routes, but the opposite relationship was found for males. There was no evidence for effects of timing of arrival or migration duration on reproductive success. This research highlights the potential fitness consequences of different migration strategies and will be imperative for informing full life-cycle conservation for subarctic-nesting shorebirds

Best Practices for Teaching Discussion as Part of High School Common Core State Standards

Instructional discussion is a teaching method used in many classrooms across grade levels. In fact, the Common Core State Standards promote the use of instructional discussion in secondary classrooms (Common Core State Standards Initiative, 2018a). Students, however, are not always taught best practices for engaging in a discussion and may feel unprepared to participate. As a result, discussions may not produce the dynamic learning opportunity they are intended to foster. This essay provides 10 tips for high school teachers to prepare students in the high school classroom to engage in a meaningful classroom discussion effectively in order to ensure students are learning and are engaged in a productive manner while meeting the demands of the Common Core Standards

A Two-Day Virtual Workshop on the Micronutrient-Directed Nutrition-Focused Physical Exam for Ghanaian Nutrition Professionals: Examining Perceived Self-Efficacy and Innovation

Micronutrients are key components of various physiological processes. In Ghana, micronutrient deficiencies are common and medical resources are limited. Biochemical markers of nutrition status are costly and require specialized medical equipment. In the absence of available biochemical markers of nutrition status, the micronutrient-directed nutrition-focused physical exam is a viable tool. This mixed-methods research aimed to determine whether a two-day virtual workshop for Ghanaian nutrition professionals (N=131) would improve perceptions regarding the usefulness and self-efficacy of the micronutrient-directed nutrition-focused physical exam. Quantitative data were collected via a virtual pretest (immediately prior to the workshop) and a virtual posttest (immediately following the workshop). Qualitative data were gathered via focus groups, which were conducted in virtual breakout rooms on the second day of the workshop. Total posttest scores were significantly higher (M=70.15, SE= .703), t(130)= -7.357, p= M= 64.85, SE= .165), t(130)= -7.357, p

Does Frequency or Amount Matter? Testing the Perceptions of Four Universal Basic Income Proposals

The concept of universal basic income (UBI) first gained traction in the United States in the 1960s Civil Rights Movement and again recently due to the 2008 recession and COVID-19 pandemic. Still, the idea lags in popularity in comparison to existing cash transfer policies like the Earned Income Tax Credit and COVID relief packages. We hypothesize that this disparity is related to predicted uses of a UBI in comparison annual or lump sum cash programs. In this survey of 837 American Amazon MTurk workers, we explore whether predicted behavioral responses to four randomly assigned hypothetical cash transfer scenarios vary across the domains of amount and frequency. We find that respondents are more likely to associate monthly payments with work disincentives and lump-sum transfers with debt repayment. Implications for UBI advocates include the need to continue educating the public on the empirical associations between UBI, employment, and expenditures. This study was supported by funds from the Hayek Fund for Scholars

Application of multiplexed ion mobility spectrometry towards the identification of host protein signatures of treatment effect in pulmonary tuberculosis.

RationaleThe monitoring of TB treatments in clinical practice and clinical trials relies on traditional sputum-based culture status indicators at specific time points. Accurate, predictive, blood-based protein markers would provide a simpler and more informative view of patient health and response to treatment.ObjectiveWe utilized sensitive, high throughput multiplexed ion mobility-mass spectrometry (IM-MS) to characterize the serum proteome of TB patients at the start of and at 8 weeks of rifamycin-based treatment. We sought to identify treatment specific signatures within patients as well as correlate the proteome signatures to various clinical markers of treatment efficacy.MethodsSerum samples were collected from 289 subjects enrolled in CDC TB Trials Consortium Study 29 at time of enrollment and at the end of the intensive phase (after 40 doses of TB treatment). Serum proteins were immunoaffinity-depleted of high abundant components, digested to peptides and analyzed for data acquisition utilizing a unique liquid chromatography IM-MS platform (LC-IM-MS). Linear mixed models were utilized to identify serum protein changes in the host response to antibiotic treatment as well as correlations with culture status end points.ResultsA total of 10,137 peptides corresponding to 872 proteins were identified, quantified, and used for statistical analysis across the longitudinal patient cohort. In response to TB treatment, 244 proteins were significantly altered. Pathway/network comparisons helped visualize the interconnected proteins, identifying up regulated (lipid transport, coagulation cascade, endopeptidase activity) and down regulated (acute phase) processes and pathways in addition to other cross regulated networks (inflammation, cell adhesion, extracellular matrix). Detection of possible lung injury serum proteins such as HPSE, significantly downregulated upon treatment. Analyses of microbiologic data over time identified a core set of serum proteins (TTHY, AFAM, CRP, RET4, SAA1, PGRP2) which change in response to treatment and also strongly correlate with culture status. A similar set of proteins at baseline were found to be predictive of week 6 and 8 culture status.ConclusionA comprehensive host serum protein dataset reflective of TB treatment effect is defined. A repeating set of serum proteins (TTHY, AFAM, CRP, RET4, SAA1, PGRP2, among others) were found to change significantly in response to treatment, to strongly correlate with culture status, and at baseline to be predictive of future culture conversion. If validated in cohorts with long term follow-up to capture failure and relapse of TB, these protein markers could be developed for monitoring of treatment in clinical trials and in patient care